The Weekend We Fixed Our Commute: The 10 Things That Made the Car Calm
Forty-five minutes each way, five days a week, in a hatchback nobody had ever upgraded. The weekend we fixed the small things that went wrong every single day.
10 products8 min read
A car we had stopped noticing
We drive forty-five minutes each way, five days a week, in a hatchback we bought five years ago and have never once improved. The phone rode on the passenger seat and slid into the footwell at the first roundabout. The charging cable only worked if it was bent in a particular way and wedged under the handbrake. The cup holder was full of coins and receipts and a lip balm from two summers ago. The boot was where shopping went to tip over.
None of this was a problem. It was ten small problems, every day, in the same order, and in late September we gave one weekend to fixing them in that order. This is what we bought, in the order the working week needed it.
Monday 7 a.m. — the phone and the cable
The first thing that goes wrong every morning is the phone. It is the map, the podcast and the thing you are not supposed to look at, and it was lying face-down on the seat with a cable pulling it towards the floor.
The mount that charges without a cable
The Essager magnetic wireless charging car mount is a vent-clip mount that charges the phone through the back, and it cost about $11. You put the phone on it and it grabs with a click, and the little ring of light tells you it is charging. There is no cable to plug in at 7 a.m., which turns out to be the whole point; we stopped arriving at work with a phone at twenty percent. It needs a phone or a case with a magnetic ring, which one of ours had and one did not until we bought a sticker ring for a couple of dollars.
Essager Magnetic Wireless Charging Car Mount (15W)
$10.69
The charger that ended the loose cable
The Baseus four-port car charger with built-in retractable cables, about $37, replaced the bent cable under the handbrake. Two cables pull out of the body of the charger and spring back when you let go, and there are two more ports on the front for whoever is in the passenger seat. It charges fast enough that the forty-five-minute drive puts a real dent in a flat phone. It is the most expensive thing in this story and it sticks out of the socket further than a plain plug; in our car it clears the gear lever by about a finger, so check yours.
Baseus 4-Port Car Charger with Retractable Cables
$37.39
The camera we hope never matters
The dual camera dash cam, about $30, records the front and the rear in 1080P on a loop, overwriting itself as it goes. We bought it after a near miss at the same junction we pass twice a day, and the honest report is that we have not needed it, which is how you want a dash cam to go. It has night vision for the half of the year when the drive home is in the dark. Fitting it tidily took a patient half hour of tucking cable into the headliner and down the pillar; done badly it would be a cable across the windscreen.
Dual Camera Dash Cam 1080P (Front and Rear, Night Vision)
$29.89
Monday fixed, we drove in on the Tuesday feeling smug, and the sun came up directly in our eyes.
Tuesday — the cup holder and the low sun
The second thing that goes wrong is the console. A coffee that does not fit the cup holder, sunglasses in the door pocket under a water bottle, and a low autumn sun straight down the road for the last ten minutes of the drive.
The expander that gave the coffee a home
The adjustable twin cup holder expander, about $12, pushes into the one cup holder our car has and turns it into two rings on a stem. The big ring takes a tall bottle, the small ring takes a takeaway coffee, and the arm swivels so the cups sit where the gear lever is not. The coins and receipts went in the bin, because for the first time there was nowhere for them to hide. Measure the depth of your cup holder first; in a very shallow one the stem can rock.
Adjustable Twin Cup Holder Expander (360° Base)
$11.52
The case that lives on the visor
The magnetic sun visor sunglasses case, about $10, is a soft case that clamps onto the visor with magnets and opens one-handed. The sunglasses now live above the windscreen, which is where you need them when the sun is in your eyes at a red light, rather than in the door pocket where they had been living under a water bottle and getting scratched. It does add a lump to the visor; in a car with very little headroom it might rub the headliner.
Magnetic Sun Visor Sunglasses Case
$10.29
By Wednesday the front of the car was sorted. The back of the car was still a tip, and on Thursday we did the big shop.
Thursday — the back seat and the boot
The third thing that goes wrong is everything behind the front seats. Shopping bags that tip over on the first corner, a boot that has to be emptied before it can be used, and a steering wheel too hot to hold after a day in the office car park.
The box that stopped the shopping rolling
The SEAMETAL foldable trunk storage box, about $27, is a 110-litre waterproof box with stiff sides and two compartments that sits in the boot and holds the shopping upright. The first Thursday with it, the eggs arrived home intact and the bottle of milk was still standing, which had not happened in five years. When the boot is needed for something bigger it folds flat against the back seat. It is big: in a small hatchback it fills the boot almost edge to edge, so measure before ordering.
SEAMETAL Foldable Trunk Storage Box (110L, Waterproof)
$26.59
The shade that made the wheel touchable
The Baseus DT1 folding windshield sunshade, about $23, is a stiff shade that stands up inside the windscreen in about ten seconds and folds into a flat pouch for the door pocket. The car park at work has no shade and the car sits in it for eight hours; with the DT1 up, the steering wheel and the seat were touchable when we got in, instead of needing two minutes with the doors open. It comes in sizes and you want the right width, because too narrow leaves a hot stripe down one side of the dashboard.
Baseus DT1 Folding Windshield Sunshade
$22.65
Which left Friday, and the thing we had been putting off for five years.
Friday 6 p.m. — the clean
The fourth thing is the slow one: the footwells full of grit, the seat creases full of crumbs, the greasy haze on the inside of the windscreen that turns the low sun into a white wall. A car does not get dirty on any particular day. It just gets dirty.
The vacuum that lives in the boot
The CENRR cordless handheld car vacuum, about $22, lives in the trunk box and comes out every Friday for about ten minutes. It has a crevice nozzle for the seat rails and a brush head for the mats, and it charges from the car’s USB port during the week. It is a car vacuum, not a house vacuum: the bin is small and needs emptying every clean, and the battery is good for one car and not much more. For ten minutes a week that is exactly enough, and ten minutes a week means the car never gets bad enough to need a proper valet.
CENRR Cordless Handheld Car Vacuum
$22.22
The brush that fixed the morning glare
The OGAS oil film cleaning brush for interior glass, about $12, is a hand-sized brush with a mild cleaning paste in the handle that takes the greasy film off the inside of the windscreen. We had been living with that film without knowing it; the first Monday after using the brush, the low sun was just low sun rather than a wall of light. It needs a damp cloth to rinse and a dry microfibre to finish, and on its own it leaves streaks, so it is a three-step job that takes about five minutes.
OGAS Oil Film Cleaning Brush for Interior Glass
$12.05
The small thing that made it smell new
The car vent aroma diffuser, about $12, is a USB-rechargeable diffuser that clips to a vent and gives off a faint mist of whatever oil you put in it. It is a luxury and we know it. But it switches on with the car, the smell is light rather than cloying, and after the vacuum and the glass it was the thing that made the car feel finished rather than just clean. Oil is not included, and if you want a strong smell this is the wrong product.
Car Vent Aroma Diffuser (USB Rechargeable)
$11.75
We drove in on the following Monday with the phone on the mount, the coffee in its ring, the sunglasses on the visor and a windscreen we could see through, and realised we had been commuting badly for five years for the price of a tank and a half of petrol.
What we’d leave at home
Everything in this story
Essager Magnetic Wireless Charging Car Mount (15W)
$10.69
Baseus 4-Port Car Charger with Retractable Cables
$37.39
Dual Camera Dash Cam 1080P (Front and Rear, Night Vision)
$29.89
Adjustable Twin Cup Holder Expander (360° Base)
$11.52
Magnetic Sun Visor Sunglasses Case
$10.29
SEAMETAL Foldable Trunk Storage Box (110L, Waterproof)
$26.59
Baseus DT1 Folding Windshield Sunshade
$22.65
CENRR Cordless Handheld Car Vacuum
$22.22
OGAS Oil Film Cleaning Brush for Interior Glass
$12.05
Car Vent Aroma Diffuser (USB Rechargeable)
$11.75
Everything here comes to about $195. Prices in USD; they move a little from week to week.
Frequently asked questions
What should I buy first to make a daily commute less annoying?
A phone mount and a charger that doesn't need a loose cable. Those two fix the thing that goes wrong at the first corner every morning. Everything else — storage, shade, cleaning — is about the car feeling like a room rather than a cupboard, and can wait a week.
Is cheap car gear good enough for everyday use?
For mounts, chargers, storage and shades, yes; we have used everything in this story five days a week since late September and nothing has broken or fallen off. The one item to spend a little more on is the dash cam, because it is the one you will only find out about when you need it.
Do I actually need a dash cam for commuting?
Need is strong, but a daily commute is exactly the driving where a camera earns its place: the same busy junctions, in traffic, twice a day, often in the dark. Ours cost about $30 and records on a loop; we forget it is there, which is the point.
How do I keep the inside of the car clean without a garage?
A small cordless vacuum that lives in the boot and ten minutes every Friday. Doing it weekly means there is never enough mess to need a proper valet, and a cordless handheld is enough for one car's footwells and seats.
Will any of this leave marks or damage the car?
Nothing in this story needs tools or adhesive on painted surfaces. The mount clips to a vent, the glasses case grips the visor magnetically, the box and shade just sit in place. The only thing that leaves a trace is the dash cam cable tucked into the headliner, which comes out again.